00:00Hi, I'm Damon Herriman, and I'm in studio with The Hollywood Reporter.
00:07I feel like you have the longest IMDb credits I've ever seen.
00:12You're in so much.
00:13People probably recognize you from a ton of different film and TV projects.
00:18I think I personally know you most from Justified.
00:21Right.
00:21So can you tell me, and I think a lot of people, it's just such a good, it was such a good show.
00:26Did you find that people were also recognizing you a lot from Justified, or do you still feel that Dewey Crow love?
00:34When people who saw Justified recognize me, they definitely get excited about that show,
00:40because people who watch Justified love Justified, and definitely for me, playing Dewey was one of the highlights of my career.
00:49It was also the first kind of major job that I got in America when I first started coming over here.
00:56And I think that show opened a lot of other doors, so I'm forever grateful.
01:01Yeah.
01:02He was such an interesting character, because, you know, we were talking about it earlier, and it's like, he was technically a bad guy.
01:10Right.
01:11You felt sorry for him, though, and everyone kind of treated him bad, and you were just so, like, he just had such an innocence.
01:19Yeah, there was a childlike quality to him that, it's one of those things, you know, when you're doing a show over a period of years,
01:26that in the pilot, for example, if you watch the pilot which Dewey is in, it's not quite the same Dewey that he became,
01:32because no one really knew who he was at that point.
01:35The writers didn't know, and I didn't know.
01:37I was sort of writing a version of him, and I'm playing a version of him.
01:40And then at some point, they and I separately or together, I don't know, tapped into that kind of hapless, pathetic, kind of innocent thing
01:51that they then wrote brilliantly for, so that whenever the new scripts came out,
01:56it would just be so fun seeing what absurd situation he'd got himself into this time.
02:00And I found out in some research, you've been acting a really long time also, since you were a kid, yeah?
02:05I have, yeah, yeah.
02:06I started when I was eight in Australia, and when I was ten, I was on a TV series there called The Sullivans,
02:12which was kind of like our version of The Waltons.
02:15And I did a lot of acting around 10, 11, 12, and then sort of lost interest through high school,
02:21assumed that that was a hobby I did as a kid and I would find a normal job now.
02:26And then when I finished high school, I kind of didn't really know what I wanted to do,
02:30and that was, I sort of fell back into acting again.
02:32Wow.
02:33You pretty much had the same job your entire life.
02:35Pretty much.
02:36I mean, I've done some other fill-in jobs too.
02:38You know, if you're an actor, especially if you're an actor in a place like Australia
02:41where there's nowhere near as much work as here, you kind of need another job.
02:44And I, throughout my 20s, actually for nine years, I worked in an office in an insurance company
02:49as well as being an actor.
02:50Oh, my gosh.
02:52Yeah, so I would go to auditions, you know, in my shirt and tie after, you know,
02:57selling insurance or paying someone's claim.
03:00Or I'd go away for a few months to do a play or to do a movie or something.
03:04But it wasn't until, I kind of left that job at 27 and went, you know what,
03:09I need to take this a bit more seriously because if I keep doing this office job,
03:13I might never leave.
03:14It was still a bit of a struggle financially until my 30s, I guess.
03:20And things sort of changed when I came over here.
03:24I mean, even that took a while.
03:25But I did a film in Australia called House of Wax, which was an American film that Paris
03:31Hilton was in.
03:31I've seen it.
03:32You said that kind of sort of changed things for me in a big way, really, because I hadn't
03:38– I sort of dipped my toe in coming to America a few years earlier.
03:43I didn't have any American credits and, you know, it was almost impossible getting agents
03:48or auditions, all that stuff.
03:50So I came over for the premiere of House of Wax and that sort of opened some doors.
03:54And, you know, only a little kind of tiny opening.
03:56But having an American credit, playing an American character, not dissimilar from Dewey
04:01Crowe, actually.
04:02I know.
04:03That sort of, yeah, started slowly leading to certain work over here.
04:08So Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, how did the role come to you?
04:10Like, did you get a phone call, an email, and what's your reaction when you hear what
04:16this is?
04:17Essentially, it came about through – I knew a couple of actors on the set who already
04:24cast in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
04:25It was a Justified reunion.
04:26It was.
04:27And Timothy Olyphant from Justified is one of the people I have to thank.
04:30And another actor called Nicholas Hammond, who lives in Australia now, who people would
04:34know from The Sound of Music.
04:36He played Friedrich, the oldest son.
04:38And he played Spider-Man, interestingly, in the 70s.
04:41The 70s versions, which are a little different from the current versions.
04:45But anyway, Nicholas is a friend of mine.
04:47Timothy was a friend of mine from Justified.
04:49And they sort of got together and both ended up putting in a word to Quentin about getting
04:54me to audition.
04:55And Quentin Tarantino is actually a massive Justified fan.
04:58He has seen the whole thing, loves the whole thing.
05:01He's worked with Timothy Walton Goggins on Hateful Eight.
05:04So just that alone, I think, helped get that audition, the fact that he loved Justified.
05:09They wouldn't email the pages because it's that secretive.
05:12They had to FedEx the pages.
05:14Because – was it Hateful Eight that got released?
05:16One of them got released online when it wasn't meant to.
05:19Like, the script got released.
05:21And I think to be, you know, vigilant and really be ultra careful about that, they made
05:28sure there was no digital copy of the script.
05:30So I heard that I was being FedExed these pages for an audition.
05:35And, yeah.
05:36And then I open it up and it says, you know, a shaggy stranger appears.
05:41And I'm like, who might this be?
05:43Maybe two weeks later, I got a call saying I got the role.
05:46And, yeah, it's a pretty great call to get as an actor, for sure.
05:50So it didn't actually say – did it say, like, Charlie?
05:53It ended up saying Charlie throughout the scene.
05:56Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:56Okay, gotcha.
05:58And were you familiar with Manson at all?
06:01I'd read Helter Skelter a few years earlier.
06:04And I'd seen documentaries before.
06:07But certainly, you know, when you're playing someone who's real life,
06:11you want to make sure that you do all the research you can and watch everything you can.
06:17So I went pretty deep into watching every interview he'd done and reading books and podcasts
06:23and all sorts of stuff.
06:24I mean, his personality – I can't imagine watching all the interviews, doing all that
06:30research, and then having to portray this person.
06:35Did you find it hard to shake off?
06:37Was it difficult getting in character?
06:39I definitely didn't find it hard to shake off, thankfully.
06:43I'm not one of those actors who stays in character.
06:46Not even, you know, but after Cut, I'm back to myself.
06:50So it's – yeah, that's not a character you'd want to be spending a lot of time with
06:55at the end of the day.
06:57But, look, yeah, I mean, it's a hard – he's such a complex – he was such a complex guy.
07:03You know, there's not – he wasn't a one-dimensional villain.
07:08You know, the guy had so much going on.
07:12And, you know, he was almost certainly suffering from probably several mental disorders.
07:21But, you know, and at times he sounded like a crazy person.
07:24At times he actually spoke some sense.
07:27Obviously, that was the rarer occasion.
07:30But – and he – you know, at times he seemed terrifying.
07:36At times he seems completely sane.
07:40And so it's a very confusing – for an actor trying to kind of take all that stuff on.
07:45What was interesting actually watching the interviews is he would – he would kind of up the crazy elements
07:50if the interviewer was treating him like he was crazy.
07:54There's an interview he does with Ron Reagan Jr.
07:56Where Ron Reagan Jr. talks to him like a completely normal person.
08:00And it's probably the only interview where you see him kind of close to – as close to normal as you're likely to see him.
08:07He kind of can't – he doesn't get an opportunity to kind of crazy it up because the interviewer is being – is not kind of cajoling him
08:16and nudging him into that territory.
08:18But, yeah, it's one of the harder roles that I've had to play for sure.
08:22And especially knowing that people know who he is and know what he's like.
08:26So there's an added pressure on getting that right.
08:28Yeah.
08:28And then how did you and Quentin work together on sort of honing that character?
08:34I think I've heard him say that he sort of also bounces off of the actor because some actors like a lot of direction
08:39and some actors don't.
08:40But how was it for you two in that dynamic when you were on set and everything?
08:44Is he pretty hands-on with you or –
08:46He's kind of the perfect amount.
08:48He's incredibly enthusiastic.
08:50He makes you feel really good.
08:52When he's happy after a scene, he lets you know in no uncertain terms.
08:56And that's a really nice feeling.
08:58Yeah, he's like a big enthusiastic kid, you know, who still loves making movies.
09:04And, yeah, he doesn't give too many notes.
09:07He doesn't do too many takes.
09:08He seems to know when he's got what he wants and he moves on,
09:11even though he has the luxury of probably doing as many takes as he wants.
09:15He sort of doesn't do that unnecessarily.
09:19Sometimes his direction would be kind of acting out the scene in a way,
09:22but, like, in a way that kind of – it's sort of a – I don't know,
09:28like a cartoony version of what the version is that he wants.
09:31But it's really helpful because you know – you're watching him do it.
09:34And you're like, I know exactly what he wants that to be,
09:37even though that's not exactly that.
09:39It's not literally that.
09:40But he's really great at getting that across.
09:43And, of course, his dialogue is just so amazing.
09:47You know, as an actor, you know, people talk about the Tarantino dialogue
09:53and actors talk about, you know – and there's no question it's the best dialogue
09:58I ever got to say.
09:59I said to him while we were shooting, you write good acting into your dialogue.
10:05Like, I feel like anyone could say this and it'll make them seem like
10:09they're a good actor because the dialogue is so well written.
10:12And it's like – yeah, it's – it was a – yeah, one of the most fun times
10:19I've had on any job.
10:20And speaking of the dialogue, is it true that he is very particular
10:25about saying every exact word?
10:27Like, the way – like, you can't really – I've heard that he doesn't like
10:30anyone to sort of improv or go off script.
10:33Like –
10:33I've heard that, too.
10:35It never came up.
10:36I think I was probably so determined to learn every word.
10:39And, by the way, you don't want to change it because it's so perfect.
10:43Yeah, you shouldn't really have to.
10:45And then from the trailer, it looks like Brad Pitt's character is sort of like
10:49being ushered on to Spawn Ranch.
10:51So what's it like working with Brad Pitt?
10:53What's your dynamic like?
10:54Yeah, he's an incredibly lovely guy.
10:58We don't have a huge amount to do in the film together.
11:02But he was – he was just really sweet and down-to-earth on set.
11:06All the actors, actually, that I got to work with or met in the process of making
11:12that film were really lovely and really down-to-earth.
11:16I think there's a thing that happens where the bigger and kind of more successful
11:23a production is or the actors are that are working on it, you tend to notice going
11:28into those jobs – not that I've done that many of them – but they're the most calm,
11:33the least diva-ish, the most down-to-earth.
11:37It's a really nice feeling being around that because you could easily walk onto that set
11:42expecting to feel the opposite.
11:45Again, I know I started with this, but you just have so many projects that you're just
11:49taking over.
11:51The Nightingale looks pretty cool, and that's the Jennifer Kent film, yeah?
11:55Yeah.
11:55So I know that Babadook was – has a big cult following.
12:00Yeah.
12:00What can you say about her as a writer-director?
12:03When you got that script, what did you think, and what was that experience like?
12:07It was an incredible experience.
12:09That film is quite different from The Babadook in that it's a drama.
12:12It's not a horror film, but it's horrific in its own way.
12:15It tells a story.
12:18It's not a true story, but it's certainly based on events that – the type of events
12:22that took place in the 1800s in Tasmania, which is a state of Australia.
12:30And, yeah, look, getting to work with Jen was incredible.
12:35She's one of those directors who is a true artist.
12:37She is so incredibly passionate about what she does, and she wanted to tell this story,
12:45which is basically about this convict girl who decides to take revenge on these soldiers
12:51who have brutalized her and her family.
12:55And it was a hard job because it was winter in Tasmania, which is pretty cold, and there's
13:05some dark material in there.
13:06And I play one of the soldiers who is in my list of unpleasant guys that I've played.
13:11He's right up there.
13:13Hopefully we'll get to see you maybe shift back towards the characters from the beginning
13:18of your career, maybe a little bit more.
13:20Well, you know, in Perpetual Grace Limited, which is to show that I just – sort of the
13:26most recent job I did over here, I feel like that pivot has begun.
13:30I mean, the character in that, he's involved in some criminal activity, but he's actually
13:36a really sweet guy.
13:38And he's kind of more of a Robin Hood.
13:41He's stealing from his parents who are stealing from their church, and he wants to use the
13:46money for good.
13:47And he's a really interesting character and has a kind of a similar childlike quality
13:54to Dewey, but he's actually genuinely smart, whereas Dewey was not.
13:58Thank you so much for stopping by.
13:59It was so great to talk to you.
14:00My pleasure.
14:01Anyone watching, if you want to see Damon in anything, just basically turn to your TV
14:05or go to the theater, and you can catch him on something.
14:08Well, thank you again.
14:08So nice talking to you.
14:09Thanks, Natalie.
14:09Thanks, everybody, for watching.
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